Biden travels to Israel in search of a humanitarian corridor

President of the United States, Joe Bidentravels to Israel this Tuesday evening to express support for Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which is preparing a major incursion into the Gaza Strip, and to investigate the opening of a corridor that facilitates the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.

Biden will also visit Jordan to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah II. and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi; and will send a message to deter Iran and other actors from entering the conflict.

The trip was suddenly announced last night by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jerusalem after an almost eight-hour meeting with Netanyahu and the Israeli war cabinet.

The US foreign minister made the announcement after extracting a commitment from Netanyahu to develop a “plan” to allow international aid to access Gaza and create safe areas for civilians.

From the bloody attack of the armed wing Hamas against Israel on October 7The United States expressed its “unwavering” support for the Israeli government and defended the Jewish state’s right to “defend itself” against Palestinian militias.

As Israel’s bombardment of the enclave intensified, and the Netanyahu-led country’s refusal to retaliate spread across the Arab world, Washington began to recognize the need to protect Palestinian civilians.

Until now, the leading voice of the United States in the region was Blinken, who visited Israel and Jordan twice in the past few days, as part of an intensive tour of the Middle East that also took him to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Biden will take it up this Wednesday when he arrives in Israel to meet with Netanyahu, who has been preparing for days a major Israeli military incursion into the Gaza Strip with the official goal of ending Hamas.

He will then continue negotiations in Jordan with Abbas, Abdullah II. and Al Sisi, on the way whose agenda is not yet public.

The meeting with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan is particularly relevant because both countries, which have diplomatic relations with Israel, are leading the Arab mediation response to the conflict.

Cairo and Amman are opposed to the mass acceptance of Palestinian refugees because they would consider it “ethnic cleansing” of Gaza, home to 2.2 million people.

Another key part of the negotiations is the passage of Rafa in between Gaza Strip and Egyptthe only way to access and exit the enclave that is not under Israeli control.

Several Western countries want to evacuate their citizens in Gaza there, but Egypt has said it will not open the passage until Israel allows food, water, fuel and medicine into the Strip.